Go Your Own Way

Today is not completely about knitting - oh no!

I've been busy knitting, yes, I have new projects lined up and new things to try but I will now talk about me and my festival!

Last Thursday I headed with Stevie and Tim (and new friends) to the North, to Huntingdon and to Secret Garden Party Festival

This was my first one and everyone I talked to and met just kept saying how it's such a great "first-timer" festival. I couldn't agree more.

It was partly about the music for me, there were bands and artists I really wanted to see but it was also about the atmosphere!

Everyone who attends is in this state of mind that you can do anything you want but in a respectful way to the people and environment around you. I just bloody loved it.

It was also a bit of an awakening for me in many ways, I realised that I'm still really held down by my own judgements. I've never wanted to be a person that would judge and be biased against people and what they do. It's a bit confusing but makes sense to me. I lost a lot of pre-conceptions I had about what I thought were my opinions when really it was kind of my parents.

Now they're good people, I love them dearly but I tried to please them too much. Now I know that I don't always have to make them happy, I can do what I want and not worry about how they will react because if it makes me happy, if it's something I want to do then they should respect that.

Like dyeing my hair pink, or getting a tattoo, or just anything that takes my fancy. And I can do these things that they don't approve of, they can give their opinion but since I am 21 now I shouldn't feel like I have to always take their advice (in these instances) and they can disapprove but know I don't!

Ok, stopping all this emotional crap. Basically, the festival frakking rocked and now onto the knitting!

Hopefully I will have more things to make, a couple Totoro hats for someone in Canada, and I figured out the pattern to form the ghosts from the Pac-man game! Steve made the orange one Clyde from the game at the festival so I wanted to make him a hat, I have decided to make about *counts* 5 now! Hurrah, should keep happily knitting for a few weeks now.

I shall post pics of the hat when it's done, I quite fancy getting onto it now actually, I'm taking the pattern from my Domiknitrix book but changing a few aspects. I like the basic idea of the pattern but think I can improve it for this example! Lalala

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You an call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way

Torani No Totoro Totoro

Just to clarify, I did not make this pattern off. I found it on the haven that is Ravelry.com and really recommend having a look. This pattern can also be found here but I have adapted it and make reading the pattern simpler!

This is the Totoro hat that I am making for me and a bunch of mates. I'm thinking (since the one for Vixie is free) if anybody would like me to make one I'll charge £10 including P&P.

I've knitted loads of things so far for free, but the cost of the wool was more than I really should have spent so it's about time I make a little money.

Below is the pattern - I adapted it somewhat but it still works nicely! Also for someone who can't read patterns it should help a little bit. I explained things in more detail since for someone who isn't experienced at knitting but wants to make something other than a scarf, it helps to elaborate on things!

So you will need grey, black and white yarn that should knit to any good DK pattern. A set of 3.25 dpn (double pointed needles) and a yarn needle!

To make different sized hats the instructions are included in the pattern in brackets.
For example - 14" (16, 18, 20) will equate to CO36 (40, 44, 48) So if you wanted to make a small 14" hat you would cast on 36 stitches, but if you wanted to make a large hat measuring 20" you would cast on 48. The numbers in sequence match the sizes in sequence. I hope that's clear!

Here is a glossary of what the letters mean

CO = Cast On/Off # of Stitches
St/s = Stitch/es
St St = Stockinette Stitch
K = Knit
P = Purl
M# = Make # of stitches (there are loads of different ways to, but the best and my preferred is to just casting another stitch straight onto the needle for this project)
Inc = Increase
Dec = Decrease
R# = Round #
K2tog - put your needle through two stitches instead of one and knit
SSK - another Dec, good video here
PM = Place a marker on the needle, it can be anything from a strand of yarn tied around to ones you can buy from the stores - as long as you can clearly see it on the needle

* = if instucted you repeat the amount of times from this point

CO 36 (40, 44, 48) stitches and divide between the dpns - I put half the sts on the first needle, and split the other half on the second and third needles. You join it in a round (there is a good video here if you need help)

R1: K
R2: Inc R - *K1, M1, K16 (18, 20, 22), M1, K1* - repeat from first * once more

Repeat R1, and when doing round 2 K1, M1, then add two stitches from the previous R2, M1, K1
Repeat these two rounds until you have 80 (88, 96, 104) sts

R3: K18 (20, 22, 24) K2tog, PM, SSK, K remaining sts on all needles
R4: K R2
R5: K to 2 sts before marker, K2tog, slip the marker over, SSK, K remaining sts on all needles
R6: K R2

Repeat R5 and R6 until you have done 5 (6,7,8) decrease rows. Then stop decreasing and repeat R1 and R2 until you 108 (116, 124, 132) sts altogether.

If you want to make the hat bigger then repeat R5 and R6 a few more times, the decrease row will be obvious on the back of the hat and should reach to the rim. Once you have enough decreases, repeat R1 and R2 a few more times just to make it even. There really is nothing fixed when it comes to knitting this hat, try a few things out and see what happens!


Here you can see the decreases on the back of the hat

Now you can make the rim which is really easy, just alternate between P and K rounds, like you would with Stockinette stitch, this will make the garter stitch rim. Make it a decent size so it will stick to your head!

Once done, Cast off all the stitches (don't cast off the top of the hat just yet, we still have the ears to do!).

You can now make a cord to hold the hat on if you like. So along the cast off edge of the hat (by the corners) pick up three stitches. When you need to pick up stitches - don't worry - it's a lot easier that I first thought. Just put your needle underneath one of the knitted stitches on the edge and place it on the needle)

Now with your dpn you are essentially knitting in a round on one needle.
K the 3 sts, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, take the yarn tail and knit the first stitch on the right - essentially draggin the yarn across as tight as possible. Do this every time and you will start to see the cord form. There's another video here since it helps to see it happen.

K it as long as you like then CO. Make another on the opposite corner and there you go.

When it comes to making the face, you can pretty much go crazy and sew on whatever facial expression totoro is feeling today!


Today Totoro is happy!

Now for the ears! I changed them from the orginal pattern so that they look more ear-like!
Now the top of the hat should still be open, that's perfect
Have the front of the hat facing you and on your right pick up 4(5, 6, 7) sts on the front. Then on the back edge pick up the same amount on another needle. We are going to knit in a round again!

For the RIGHT EAR Start at the back needle and K2 rounds
R1: *K1, M1, K to end of needle*, * repeat on second needle
R2: K

Repeat these rounds until you have 9 (10, 11, 12) sts, then you start to Dec

R3: *K to last 2 sts, K2tog*, * repeat on second needle
R4: K

Repeat until there are only 4sts. To CO using two needles, you hold them side by side and knit through both at the same time. Here's another helpful video to help you get the idea if I'm too confusing!

Now for the LEFT EAR you pick up the same amount of stitches in the same way and start from the back needle again and K2 rows

R1: *K to last sts, M1, K1*, * repeat on second needle
R2: K

Repeat these rows until you have 9 (10, 11, 12) sts

R3: *K2tog, K to end*, * repeat on second needle
R4: K

Continue until you have 4sts and bind off in the same way you did the right ear!

Tada, the ears are done. Now if you like you can try and close the seam for the top of the hat with the 3 needle bind off technique.
To do so you turn the hat inside out, pick up the stitches inbetween the ears and bind off!
If you want the ears to stand up a bit more, you can stuff some wadding or any leftover yarn inside, you can leave the bottom seam open too if you like

And that should be about it!

So I hope you like the hat, if you want me to make you one give me a buzz or if you're looking at the pattern and thinking it's not so scary then give it a go!!!

Also any feedback on the pattern would be great, let me know if I explained it ok or if you need any clarification!

xx

Might as well face it, you're addicted to.......

Yep it's pretty obvious that I'm addicted to knitting. I thought that I would blog about all sorts of things that I liked. But nope - all I want to do it talk about knitting again.

SO SUE ME, I love it and I'm proud *Grannie Annie I am*

Now what I get sometimes is people telling me that I'm really good at knitting, but I have to explain that everybody who learns to knit is pretty much on the same level. You can't go wrong once you've learned the basics and from there on the sky's the limit!

Then my boyfriend points out how catastrophic his attempt at knitting was (it was for a charity blanket) but I still stand by my argument.

Then I look up some other knitting blogs and by gum there are some amazing people out there who do it *so* much better than me. They can form their own patterns and pretty much make all sorts of things. I on the other hand don't rightly have the funds to make lovely tops out of merino wool, or make a baby hat out of cashmere. I find it much nicer (and cheaper) to pop to my local store, buy 100% acrylic skein for £1.30, make a nice mini kimono cardi for my cousins-wife's baby girl due in September and not only is it a pretty shade of pink (yes she's having a girl) but most importantly it's machine washable. Now don't get me wrong, I really do see the benefits of knitting with *lovely* lovely wool. It's a dream to knit with and I would completely go berserk with it if I could!

However, a baby gets messy, and I like the idea of them being able to use my gift to them (which took me about 12 hours to knit) again and again without having to either cover the baby in a bib so she doesn't ruin my knitting (since that's more important) or having to wash it separately and specially which I'm pretty sure as new parents they won't really care to do.

So actually going to move on to my latest projects! I joined the awesome website Ravelry which is so unbelievably awesome, any budding or experienced knitter must join, seriously - you will not regret it.

I therefore in the past week have been knitting like crazy so that I can move onto the next cute project! I made two pairs of baby booties, the mini kimono I mentioned earlier and last night just finished a Totoro hat (which is proving quite popular with my friends and I now have about *counts* 7 more to make!)

It's been so lovely though, I've made things I never thought I could make. When I was knitting the booties, I kept thinking I was doing it completely wrong, then once I had binded off I poked it here and there are *POP* it suddenly made the shape of the boot and I may have squealed a little bit. OooooOooOOoh it was lovely.









And that's not all, I have even been changing some of the patterns. I kind of felt that some of the instructions were either over-complicated or I just preferred to do the pattern another way (one I thought was completely wrong but that's my opinion). It was really kind of cool to change it and still see my ideas work. It might mean that one day I could make something up completely and it would be something I made all by myself, not just by knitting it, but by designing it which is a little bit exciting.

That's all for today I think, I have work which means 7 whole hours without knitting :( sucks to be me. But the more I work, the more money I earn and therefore the more yarn I can buy - simples!

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

Whip it (Knit it gooooooood)

Bad Bad Anna

Not updating in a long time

Bad bad Anna

Anyhoo, moving on, I finally am attempting to recommend something in my blog and (surprise surprise) it's about knitting!

I've been knitting since I was about 7 and over the years have had a smourgas board of projects here and there. Mostly scarfs since it include casting on 20 stitches, kitting till you run out of wool, then casting off.


Lately though I have been expanding and testing my skills, what originally looked out of reach for me has been quite achievable. I've been trying new patterns and to my amazement, they work. I really thought that I wouldn't be able to do these things but all a knitter needs to know is knit (obv) purl, cast on/off, increases and decreases and you can do pretty much anything!

The picture is the front cover of my favourite knitting book Domiknitrix and by gum is it fantastic.

I had a hard time finding patterns that I actually wanted to make and knew I would enjoy, then I stumbled upon this book, hidden behind the patterns for jumpers and cable scarfs. When I went to buy it the girl (covered in piercings) behind the till was so jealous that I found it she took the ISBN down immediately (a secret knitter she was)

This book was what really kick-started my "hobby" into overdrive, since then I knitted the little red riding hood hoodie, the valentine candy heart pillows and now completed the winged heart bralet which I bloody adore!

I really can't emphasize how liberating this book is for a knitter, she encourages you to change a pattern if you think it's wrong, think outside the boundaries of the wool and just to enjoy it all.

I also had another side project in the works whilst I was teaching myself new knitting techniques, the first was how to knit in a round on Double Pinned Needle and it was for Katamari Ears which are just fabulous.

My fabulous friend Vixie loves Katamari and wanted a themed party, so I set myself the task of knitting some earmuffs. I though maybe one or two pairs for me and my boyfriend, I ended up getting so over-excited I knitted 6 pairs which are pictured below!





I loved knitting them all, each was different and I got to try different things, I made them out of pretty cheap wool (apart from mine since I was making everyone elses for free) and there may be oppertunity to make and sell these in the future but we'll see.

This hasn't really been the most organised of posts, I just have a passion in knitting and I love doing it and want to share it with people

As I type this I am wearing my bralet, it's too big, I knitting it with the wrong wool and it doesn't half make me look silly

But I love it, as I love knitting :)

When a problem comes along
You must whip it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it
When somethings going wrong
You must whip it

Crazy, crazy, crazy, for you baby

Am home for the Easter holidays, my lovely parents have finally gone on their well deserved 25th wedding anniversary/2nd honeymoon holiday to New York

My dad's got a gorg lovely present for her too and is maybe a little obsessed about it, fair dos though to him

So I have pretty much nowt planned in terms of working. I've done most of my work - literally have no essays due till the end of may and one exam to revise for

I am going to GGF though in Nottingham and staying in the Hilton, very much excited about that, never stayed in a Hilton hotel ever before. My dad said I did when I was about a year old, they put me in the crib, a blanket over it like I was a parrot and I apparently slept the whole night through!

I've had a few good weeks though, watching the F1, spending time in Colchester and having a nice weekend with my family.

I want there to be a point though to this blog, I see some awesome ones out there that are biographical, ones that review everything from hotels to music and more.

The original concept of this blog was basically a way for me to vent, it made me feel a lot better, very therapeutic and got a lot of things off my chest.

I'm not as moody as I used to be, I'm no where near as confused, I'm much more focused as a person, know who I am a bit better, who my mates are, who I need and want in my life and those that I could do without (not being spiteful, just some people might not get my..........uniqueness :P)

So what can I do. I have quite a few *interests* in my life shall we say

Books I could not live without - number one on the list is I love them, I adore anime and manga but more on a personal level (not into the conventions as much), I enjoy knitting be it mini projects or testing my abilities, I'm getting into F1 but still have a lot to learn, I love Geography - studying the Earth and understanding the processes that keep us alive, I have a growing palette of music so to say due to my boy introducing and expanding my horizons and I guess finally I love cooking and learning new recipes which without the immediate access to an oven is hard.

So what is my purpose.....................I don't think in this life I really have one focus and one goal. I get asked every now and then what I want to do after university and to be honest I haven't a clue. Not specifically anyway, I don't think there's one job I'm obsessed with doing. I'd like to try a little bit of everything I guess, air hostess, weather girl, environmentalist, tour guide, anything really that is directly related to my course. That is the one firm thing I know about my future, Geography and Tourism is going to be in it.

I think then I know what I'd like this blog to be about - a little bit of everything really that I like. I can't limit myself at all, wouldn't be fair to what I believe as a person and what I love. So from tomorrow there will be (hopefully) a topic that I want to review, discuss and generally just bring attention to the one person that reads this blog. Me!

I can look back and know what I liked the most that day and what interested me

Title song is Crazy by Aerosmith, definitely my favourite song by them

I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy
You turn it on
Then you're gone
Yeah you drive me
Crazy, crazy, crazy, for you baby
What can I do, honey
I feel like the color blue...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

This song just came on random on my music player curtosey of Steeeeve

I don't really know how to link it to my life though, and ususally that's what I aim for.

Maybe the fact that my work is getting better, my module "Culture and Landscape" is fascinating and fantastic. The style of learning through personal reading and seminar work interacting with the other students and lecturer has just opened my eyes to the knowledge around me. So I'm going *Hit Me With Your Best Shot* to my uni and I'm winning *huzzah*

So what's new in Anna land, welp, she's a busy busy bee this coming few weekends - dossing off to essex and pubs galore. Working at Twickenham stadium again - fun fun especially meeting tiger players *Leicestaaaaa*

Anna had muchly good times at the Student Union for Saint Paddy's day, a proper knees up and daffodils were the order of the night.

Anna likes to play with MAGICC (Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse gas Induced Climate Change) meaning maps and colours and geography things are learnt (and pratted around with)

Anna goes home to harborough on the 3rd whilst her parents bugger off to New York for a well deserved 25th Wedding Anniversary which contains presents and plays and things to keep old people happy

Anna will go to Nottingham and be a cheerleader thanking you! Plus Anna will be staying in the Hilton *Anna is excited*

Anna's quite liking this third person malarky, must be the mood she is in at the moment (listening to Alphabeat always makes Anna hyper)

oooOOoooOh Anna has been knitting Katamari ear muffs, Anna is proud cos they look *kewl*

Anna misses someone but will be (finally) seeing him tomorrow, she likes seeing him!

Anna may go home to knit and sleep now, she likes that a lot, yes she does.

Anna also just got excited by a reference she found to the song in pokemon:
Referenced in Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue for Nintendo's Game Boy. One trainer begins a fight by yelling, "Hit me with your best shot," once he is defeated he announces, "Fired away."

Awesome!

You come on with a come on, you dont fight fair
But thats o.k., see if I care!
Knock me down, its all in vain
Ill get right back on my feet again!

Hit me with your best shot!
Why dont you hit me with your best shot!
Hit me with your best shot!
Fire away!

Time Goes By

I realised I forgot to do my post on how the last year went. I like doing this post a lot, really helps me reflect and remember the year that's gone and what I hope the year will bring.

So here it is, 2008:

January: What can I say, it started off really cool - in Nottingham with some old friends, got stupidly drunk, called my (then newish) boyfriend and made a proper fool, but hey, it's a new year and it was fun. RAG week was on, had a fun time with friends and had my own place to live in! My mums birthday as well.
Was also the month I fell in Love, that's not a bad way to start the year off either!

February: My first ever Valentines day occurred this month, in my entire life - never had a card, present, flower - nothing, so spending it with someone was fab. We went to see Spamalot, giggled lots and generally loved it!
Though the saddest thing was my little dog of 15 years who was 18 died on leap day. This is something that seems stupid, but it really really broke my heart a little bit. This doggie was wonderful - rescue dog that was in a bad way, burn marks, skinny as you can imagine, her legs permanently shook as they were broken and not set properly. But we loved her to pieces, as she got older she just had her own personality. When I moved to uni she used to properly welcome me home by cuddling up and sleeping on my lap, it was like she missed me and wanted to spend time with me. She got better in the few months after we got her and had a really wonderful life. In the end she had to be put to sleep, she had brain tumours, cataracts, liver, kidney failure and going deaf - she was an old dog and I cried so so much when this happened and I still miss her now but I'm happy that I had her. We now have Finn, a big lugg of a thick dog but he's fab.

March: Go0d Good Friday fell in this month, along with Easter. That was the day of all seasons combined, wind, sleet, hail, sunshine - definitely a good day for weather enthusiasts, not footballers though. I used to hate the moth of March but it was brilliant (and Steve's birthday, I don't forget). I also went to Malta, and can still remember so much about it, was a beautiful stunning island and I hope to go back one day.

April: Month of showers, struggling to remember anything exciting here................not much really

May: I was coming to the end of my second year, was filled with work, friends, parties and more. My dads birthday which I was able to make it back for and had fun.

June: End of term, the summer ball and 6 months in a relationship. We had a great time and I loved being there with all my friends. Also my grandads 80th birthday, where Steve met my *entire* extended family, even the uncle we don't really get on with, then I had to go home for the summer and spent my days in the Cherry Tree Pub!

July: Went to Brighton to spend the day dressed as a Pirate, drink and do random bits of fun on the beach, also first time I got to see my fella after about a month or two apart.

August: Spent going back and forth to London trying to sort out my course, I had and still have some extra work to do but I'm not giving up yet. That summer also was a really good test in a way for my relationship, I'd always seen couples not really manage spending time apart from each other, I was maybe worried that something might happen but it didn't and we're still together now.

September: Back to Uni I went, as a Senior Resident, this month was filled with drinking, partying and being back in London. I do love this city very much and one of the best places to live in. Basically was a blur though so not sure anything of significance happenned. Also was nice being able to see my fella without travelling half a day and spending too much on train fares.

October- December: Struggling to remember again, probably recovering from my alcoholic haze that freshers week left me in! There were definitely lots of meets, pubs and people to see. This was the year I have to say where I really felt like I was making really good friends in Join Me rather than a random on-looker. They're not really *Joinees* to me anymore, they're my friends that I met through a group, it was something that brought us together but not what kept us together if you get what I mean. Anyhoo they're all awesome!

December: Pretty much the most awesome month of my life. I celebrated turning 21 with all my crazy awesome friends in so many ways, Oceana, Meals out, Karmageddon, and family. I know I didn't stop smiling that entire weekend and everytime I look at pictures or just remember I don't know any possible way it could have gone better.
I celebrated a year with Stevie - a whole year! Which made me happy, since this year really helped me in so many ways grow but not change, I think. Overall, December rocked majorly


So that's the run-down of my 2008, I loved it very much and it didn't seem to go too quickly (or relating to the title, Time goes by, so slowly, and time, can do so much). I definitely don't regret anything that I did and only hope that 2009 can follow it in the same way

Happy (belated) New Year - Time Goes By, so slowly and time can do so much, my dear, are you still mine?